Hi, all!  Well, as you heard from me a little over a week ago, we've had
three surgeries in as many days.  Squeaker had what we were hoping would be
"routine" insulinoma surgery, but turned out not to be.  The tumor was an
adenocarcinoma, which the vet says is aggressive and has likely
metastasized. :(  Still, we have been hopeful up to now that perhaps it
hadn't spread.
 
However, she has taken a turn for the worse today, and we are worried.  We
noticed she was less active last night, but not anything that had us
particularly concerned.  But this morning, she was running a fever -- 104.8.
We got her to vet right away.  On the way there, I saw that there was some
blood in her mouth!  I was afraid she'd bitten one of our other fuzzies
(she's been cranky today), but there were no marks on anyone.  The vet says
it's possible it was from gastric bleeding -- I sure hope it wasn't!  :(
 
He was surprised to see her with a fever now, two weeks after surgery.
While he was taking her temp she had some pretty loose stool.  He cultured
it, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  Her white count was
14,000+, but the vet wasn't sure he should consider this high.  He sent us
home with some oral Baytril.
 
Does anyone have any ideas?  What is the normal white count for a ferret?
What about the blood in her mouth?  (It seems to be gone now.)  She's only
four and we don't want to lose her yet!  :(:(
 
-Tasha
 
"It has been said that man is a rational animal.  All my life I have been
searching for evidence which could support this."
                                        -- Bertrand Russell
[Posted in FML issue 1996]